Solar Heat Ice Fishing Shack

[jmercil]

I just wanted to share some of my experiments with solar power and solar heat on my fish house. It's 8x12 with one 100 watt solar panel and a custom made 4x7 active solar heating panel on the back. It puts out some incredible heat for free, up to 110F. 

[Mike89]

oh wow!!!!!  poster too!!

[rickwalley]

jmercil.........

In your last pic, are those PC fans up near the  ceiling?  If so, tell me a little more about your setup.  Fans only at the top, or top and bottom?  Some type of pvc flange where they wall mount?  PVC pipe in the walls? etc, etc.

 

[leech~~]

Way cool.

Do you have some kind of protective cover to put over the panels when you going down the road?  Lot's of ice chunks and other road debris flying around in the winter. Even the road salt build up over time may not be good on them.

Edited November 20, 2017 by leech~~

[jmercil]

On 11/20/2017 at 8:15 AM, rickwalley said:

jmercil.........

In your last pic, are those PC fans up near the  ceiling?  If so, tell me a little more about your setup.  Fans only at the top, or top and bottom?  Some type of pvc flange where they wall mount?  PVC pipe in the walls? etc, etc.

 

I have a pc type fan in each outlet pulling air through the panel. These are wired to the small solar panels that are behind the plastic sheeting. These are then wired to a snap switch that closes the circuit at 80F and off at 65F. So the fans won't turn on unless they have power supplied by their own solar panels and the temp inside the panel is 80F+. And ya just a pvc trim piece for a cleaner look. We did find that we needed to add just one layer of a ziplock bag to the outlet holes. Just any piece of thin plastic would do. This covered the holes to stop backfeeding at night. And once the fans kick on it's not a problem. 

On 11/20/2017 at 8:56 AM, leech~~ said:

Way cool.

Do you have some kind of protective cover to put over the panels when you going down the road?  Lot's of ice chunks and other road debris flying around in the winter. Even the road salt build up over time may not be good on them.

I don't but it hasn't been bad at all. And if you drive north all day it actually works and the house is definitely warmer than the outside once we get there. The whole setup I have maybe $100-$200. The larger solar panel and dual battery system is a whole different deal. 

[jmercil]

On 11/20/2017 at 8:15 AM, rickwalley said:

jmercil.........

In your last pic, are those PC fans up near the  ceiling?  If so, tell me a little more about your setup.  Fans only at the top, or top and bottom?  Some type of pvc flange where they wall mount?  PVC pipe in the walls? etc, etc.

 

Imagine just a black box with 2 holes at top and 2 at the bottom with a green house sheeting over the top. All 2x8 cedar and a piece of foam board. 

[leech~~]

This all sounds pretty darn sweet. You may want to start making and selling them.  So, what heats the house at night when the sun goes down?  Or did I miss something? 

[jmercil]

We have a gas furnace too. But if it's sunny we run the entire house on solar. Heat and electric. It may not sound like much but in that 8x12 we have had days where we need to open windows. The one thing it won't do is throttle down or turn off until the sun goes down. I know it's a duh thing but a consequence you don't think of at the design phase. It also works great when you aren't out there  it sure is great to come out to the house after work and the house is already at 60F or warmer  

It was only an experiment for a larger project but turned out pretty cool. Something to do. 

Edited November 22, 2017 by jmercil

[jmercil]

My new project involves putting my big boy pants on and upgrading from the 4'x7' panel on the fish house to a 8'x24' for the house. Believe it or not but I had to unhook it from the house for fear of starting a fire due to making too much heat. I haven't quite figured out how to control it yet. 

[Hoey]

 

11 hours ago, jmercil said:

I haven't quite figured out how to control it yet. 

A damper could be placed inline with the supply air duct to either mix outdoor air or recirculated return air, this is air going into the panel.  Modulate that damper with an actuator that is controlled by a simple temp sensor and modulating control, i.e. 0-10v signal.  

[huntnfish]

This is very cool! After seeing your post I did some research online and it all looks very simple. The one I saw just used window screens layer with some separation between with a sheet of plexiglass covering it all. 

 

I always thought making a windmill with an old 80s chevy alternator would work pretty slick to keep a battery charged in a hard sided house. It seems like there is always wind but not always sun. It would definitely be nice to come out to the house and have it warm.

[jmercil]

That's exactly what I have in this system. Aluminum insect screen around a 2x2 frame that sits in the blocks along the perimeter of the interior of the box if you see in the construction pictures.